cee eee = 
| 
1 
= Wee 
tegen — 
by pine beetles and the trend of epidemic conditions. The survey showed 
thet during 1952 barkbeetle activity exceeded anything previously recorded 
in the past 15 years, and was responsible for the destruction of nearly 2 
billion board feet of ponderosa pine--timber which under normal market con- 
ditions would be worth $6,000,000. Much of this loss could have been 
preventea if control maasures had been undertaken at the proper time. 
Owing to the freezing of beetle broods during the winter and the improved 
conditions ef tree growth, the loss for 1933 will not exceed 50 percent of 
that for 1932, and some portions of the pine region are already back to 
what is usually considered a normal condition." 
The insect population of pondercsa pine bark.~--That the trunk of a 
Single infested pine tree may harbor scores of insect species is one of 
the interesting sidelights of a caging experiment conducted by W. J. Buck- 

s 
horn, Portiand, Oreg., during the past seeson. Cages covering 2 square feet 
of pine bark on trees recently killed by the western pine beetle have 
yielded as many as 56 different species of insects, representing the fol- 
lowing groups: Three primary species; 24 secondary species; 9 predacious 
Ss 
Species; 5 parasitic spyecies; and 5 gue 
ts. Many of the species collected 
~this-season from the tree cages have never been reared before from the in- 
=. £ 
fested bark placed under artificial rearing conditions. 
A general survey of the area near Fairfax, Va., infested by the 
southern pine beetle, made recently by F. C. Craighead and R. A. St. George, 
indicated that some 7,00C,000 board fect of merchantable virgin shortleaf 
pine, as well as a considerable quantity of pulpwood, has been killed during 
the past two seasons by this bark beetle. This estimate is based on the 
company's survey of 1925 in which they reported 7,500,000 board feet of———_ 
merchantable timber and 30,000 cords of pulpwood on the tract. Although 
some remaining pine is still being attacked it is felt that natural 
agencies have been sufficiently cffective to largely curtail the activities 
of this beetle. 
H. J. Macdloney, New Haven, Conn., reports e noticeable decrease in 
white pine weevil infestatio 
ae 2, 
ns 
both in natural stands and in plantations, 
due he believes to unfavorable conditions for hibernation last winter. This 
was learned from a study of permanent sample plots in New York, southern 
New Hamoshire, central Massachusetts, and Connecticut. It is thus apparent 
that the control work by the removal of weeviled tips, conducted in 
Connecticut in the Emergency Conservation work was undertaken under the 
most favorable circunstances 
£ 
Thorough work in the areas treated combined 
with the relatively small amount of infestation in surrounding areas should 
result in a still further de 
my 
re 
ease, and if continued for several seasons 
the stand should be grestly improved and the value of the final crop 
greatly enhanced. 
